Air conditioning for railway cars



Dec. 31, 1940. F. A/ECOFF AIR CONDITIONING FOR RAILWAY CARS Filed Jan.5, 1938 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR Q wzczsfl Eco 4 ATTORNEY Dec. 31,1940. I F. A. ECOFF AIR CONDITIONING FOR RAILWAY CARS Filed Jan. 5, 19384 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR ATTORNEY 4 Sheets-Shet F. A. ECOFF Filed Jan.5, 1938 AIR CONDITIONING FOR RAILWAY C A RS Dec. 31, 1940.

dig 22017 M [A Tfl/Z ATTORNEY Dec. 31, 1940. F. A. ECOFF AIRCONDITIONING FOR RAILWAY CARS Filed Jan. 5, 1958 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 FmzzcBY Juvd Patented Dec. 31, 1940 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE AIRCONDITIONING FOR RAILWAY cans Application January 5, 1938, SerialNo.183,435

9 Claims.

This invention relates to air conditioning in general and in particularto air conditioning systems for use on railway cars.

In the past the majority of air conditioning systems have been installedwith at least some of the equipment located in the car body above thefloor area which results in loss of passenger space and a raising of thecenter of gravity of the car. This loss of passenger space andraising-of the center of gravity is extremely objectionable in highspeed trains where passenger spaceis at a premium and speed requirementsnecessitate the location of the center of gravity as close to the railas is possible. It is an object, therefore, of

the present invention to provide a system in which the air isconditioned in a chamber located below the car floor and exterior of thecar body, thus conserving passenger space and lowering the center ofgravity of the car.

A further object of the invention is the provision of a system in whichthe air is temperature conditioned by passing over a cooling medium andthrough water sprays in a channel formed in part by the cooling mediumitself.

A still further object of the invention is the provision of an airconditioning system in which any desired proportion of fresh orrecirculated air may be forced into the car body by means locatedexterior of the car and in which means the air may be temperatureconditioned or not as desired.

These and other objects of the invention will be apparent to personsskilled in the art from. a study of the following description andaccompanying drawings, in which Figure l is a plan view of one type ofrailway car with the improved system applied thereto;

Figure 2 is a sectional view taken substantially on line 2 2 of Figure 1and showing the relation of the air passages in the car body;

Fig. 3 is a side view of a portion of the car with parts broken away inorder to more clearly show the air conditioning chamber and passagesWithin the car body;

Fig. 4 is a sectional view of the air conditioning unit and takensubstantially on line 4-4 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 5 is a sectional view of the unit and taken substantially on line55 of Fig. 4;

Fig. 6 is a sectional view taken substantially on line 6-6 of Fig. 5disclosing the relation of the cooling medium to the water sprays andair passages;

Fig. 7 is an enlarged detail section showing the improved over-flowmeans, and

Fig. 8 is an enlarged sectional view showing the means for controllingthe flow of air through the air conditioning unit.

Referring now to the drawings in detail, it will be seen that the systemcomprises a complete conditioning unit A mounted beneath the floor andunderframe of the car body B and receiving and discharging air from andto the car body through duct system D. The. air conditioning unit in thepresent instance consists of a substantially box-shaped container 2suitably secured to the car underframe by means of angle brackets 4. Thebox-shaped container is suitably insulated on all sides by insulation 6located between the outer shell and an inner waterproof shell 8 formingan inner watertight container which container is divided into threecompartments by cooling medium into two of the compartments,

while door 16 permits access to the third compartment containing themotor and blower units. clearly shown in Figs. 4 to 6 inclusive, thepartitions In and I2 are stopped short of the ceiling of the innercontainer and joined together at their top portion by means of a plate20 extending continuously. from the front wall of the inner container tothe rear wall thereof and also extending beyond the partition I2'as at22 into the blower compartment where it is connected with a verticalwall 24 extending upwardly to the ceiling of the inner container, thusforming a passageway 26 within the inner container and above the centralcompartment. The rear edge of partition it! is spaced from the rear wall(Fig. 6) of the container in order to provide a passageway, whilepartition I2 is likewise stopped short of the rear wall to provide apassageway in which an eliminator 28 may be placed which, together withthe partition [2, will substantially isolate the refrigerantcompartments from the blower compartment. Chilled water from therefrigerant compartments is drained through outlet pipe 30 into a filter32 from which it is drawn by motor driven pump 34 and forced throughpipes 36 to a plurality of spray nozzles 38 located along the rear wallof the refrigerant compartments. These spray nozzles direct an extremelyfine spray downwardly and outwardly upon a refrigerant; which in thepresent case is Water ice indicated as at R (Fig. 6). The floor of thewaterproof refrigerant compartment slopes downwardly and inwardly towardthe center of the car and in order to prevent injury to the spraynozzles as wellas to insure maintenance of an air channel between theice cakes and back wall of the container a channel or other spacingmeans 40 extends continuously along but spaced from .the rear wall ofthe container (Figs. 6 and 7). In order to maintain a substantiallyconstant liquid level within the ice compartments an' overflow isprovided as shown in Fig. 7 between the ice spacing channel 40 and therear wall ofthe container. This overflow consists of an overflow pipe 42welded or otherwise secured to the inner container extending upwardlyinto the container with its upper end covered by a housing 44 havingrelatively small openings 46 in the lower portion thereof. Thisarrangement forms a trap preventing entrance of air into the icecompartments while at the same time preventing excessive loss of liquiddue to surges caused by travel of the car.

A framework 50 is secured to the floor of the blower compartment and isadapted to slidably receive the base 52 upon which blowers 54 and blowermotor 56 are mounted, thus permitting the ready withdrawal or insertionof the motor and blower unit through the opening made accessible by theraising of the door IS. The blower outlets are detachably connected to.Y-shaped' casing 58 which merges into a vertical duct 66 extendingupwardly into the car for connection at its upper end to the cold airdischarge duct 62 control the distribution of the air flowing to therecirculated air duct a damper 12 is provided hinged to the plate 26 asat 13 and adapted when closed to cover an opening 14 formed in the plateand when open to close the passage 26 as shown in line and dash outline(Fig. 8). p This damper is controlled by means of link 15 connected atits upper end to any suitable adjusting means such as slide hook 16(Figs. 2 and 3). As shown the vertical ducts 60 and 64 are located inone corner of the passenger space S between the partitions 80 and 6| andadjacent the baggage compartment T, but it is obvious that they may belocated in any other position desired since the ducts do not necessarilyhave to connect directly and -verticallyinto the conditioning unit butif desired the unit may be located wherever possible beneath the car andauxiliary connecting ducts applied between the vertical ducts and theairconditioning unit.

The operation of the system is' as follows: Ice cakes R are charged intothe two refrigerant compartments by raising of doors l4 and I5 and whenso charged the cakes will rest at their inner ends against the channel46, thus providing an air "space between them and the back wall of thecompartments. When cooling is desired have started circulating airdrawing it downwardly through duct 64 past damper 12 into passageway 26from, which it will flow over the ice cakes in the end compartment, thendownwardly into the passage at the rear of the ice cakes and through thesprays along the rear edge of the ice cakes to the eliminator, thenthrou h the eliminator into the blowers and from the blowers it will beforced upwardly through duct 60 into duct 62 for distribution to thepassenger space. The air flowing through duct 64 may be obtained eitherfrom the grilled recirculated opening or from the fresh air inlet whichis preferably controlled by suitable slide means in orderthat theproportion of fresh and recirculated .air may be controlled. If it isdesired to condition all of the air flowing through duct 64 the damper12 will remain closed, but if it is desired to merely circulate the airthrough the car without temperature conditioning it, then the damperwill be opened closing the passage 26 and' permitting the air to flowdirectly from the duct 64 through opening 14 to the blowers withoutpassing through the ice compartments. It is, of course, obvious that anyintermediate location of the damper may be used, in which case anydesired channel 40 thus insuring a passageway formed on at least onepart by the ice cakes during the melting thereof. Even after the cakesare substantially melted the opening in partitions l0 and i2 will insurepassage of the air along the back wall of the compartment and throughthe cold water sprays.

While the improved system has been described more or less in detail, itis obvious that various modifications and rearrangements of parts andrelocation of the equipment may be accomplished without departing fromthe scope of the following claims:

What is claimed is: Y

1. An air conditioning system for a railway car comprising an insulated"container carried by the car beneath the floor-thereof, a plurality ofducts connecting the container and car interior, a refrigerantcompartment in the container, water ice in the refrigerant compartmentheld spaced from the back wall thereof to form a. passageway, spraynozzles carried on the back wall in the passageway, means in thecontainer for drawing a stream of air from the car body through one ofthe ducts and the passageway for discharge through other ducts into thecar body, and means forcing chilled water to the nozzles for sprayinginto the air stream in the passageway.

2. An air conditioning system for a railway car comprising an insulatedcontainer carried by the car beneath the floor thereof, said containercomprising a plurality of refrigerant compartments for the reception ofwater ice, an air duct overlying at least one of the refrigerantcompartments, means in said compartments to hold water ice therein inposition to cooperate with the rear .walls of the compartments to form aclearly defined passageway, spray nozzles carried by the rear walls ofthe compartments and directed transversely of the passageway toward thewater ice, means drawing chilled water from means circulating airthrough the ducts and passageway for cooling and dehumidiflcation by theice and water sprays 3. An air conditioning system for a raliway carcomprising an insulated container carried by the car beneath the floorthereof, said container comprising a plurality of refrigerantcompartments for the reception of water ice, an air duct overlying atleast one of the refrigerant compartments, means in said compartments tohold water ice therein in position to cooperate with the rear walls ofthe compartments to form a clearly defined passageway, spray nozzlescar-' ried by the rear walls of the compartments and directedtransversely of the passageway toward the water ice, means drawingchilled water from the compartments and forcing the same to the spraynozzles, a plurality of air ducts connecting the container with the carinterior, and means circulating air through the ducts and passageway forcooling and dehumidiflcation by the ice and water sprays, said lastnamed means being removably located in a compartment of the containeradjacent the refrigerant compartments.

4. An air conditioning system for a railway car comprising an insulatedcontainer carried by the car beneath the floor thereof, said containercomprising a plurality of refrigerant compartments for the reception ofwater ice, means insaid compartments to hold water ice therein inposition to cooperate with the rear walls of the compart-- ments to forma clearly defined passageway, spray nozzles directed transversely of thepassageway and toward the water ice, means drawing chilled water fromthe compartments and forcing the same to the spray nozzles, a pluralityof air ducts connecting the container and the passageway with the carinterior, and means for circulating air through the ducts and passagewayfor cooling by the ice and water sprays.

5. An air conditioning system for a railway car comprising an insulatedcontainer carried by the car beneath the floor thereof, said containercomprising a plurality of refrigerant compartments for the reception ofwater ice, means in said compartments to hold water ice therein inposition .to cooperate with the rear walls of the compartments to form aclearly defined passageway, a plurality of spray nozzles for sprayingwater in the passageway, means supplying chilled water to the nozzles, aplurality of air ducts connecting the container and the passageway-withthe car interior, and means for circulating air through the ducts andpassageway for cooling by the ice and water sprays.

6. An air conditioning system for a. railway car comprising an insulatedcontainer carried by the car beneath the floor thereof, said containercomprising a plurality of refrigerant compartments for the reception ofwater ice, means in said compartments to hold water ice therein inposition to cooperate with the rear walls of the compartments to" form aclearly defined passageway, a plurality of spray nozzles for directingwater spray into the passageway, means supplying chilled water underpressure to the nozzles, a plurality of air ducts connecting thecontainer and the passageway with the car interior, means.

normally circulating air through the ducts and passageway for cooling bythe ice and water sprays, and means for controlling the quantity of airflowing through the passageway for cooli '7. An air conditioning systemfor a railway car comprising an insulated container carried by the carbeneath the floor thereof, said container comprising a plurality ofrefrigerant compartments for the reception of water ice, an air ductoverlying at least one of the refrigerant compartments, means in saidcompartments to hold water ice therein in position to cooperate with therear walls of the compartments to form a clearly defined passageway,spray nozzles carried by the rear walls of the compartments and directedtransversely of the passageway toward the water ice, means drawingchilled water from the compartments and forcing the same to the spraynozzles, a plurality of air ducts connecting the container with the carinterior, means circulating air through the ducts and passageway forcooling and dehumidification by the ice and water sprays, and dampermeans controlling the volume of air flowing through the passageway forcooling and dehumidiflcation.

8. An air conditioning system for a railway the car interior and controlmeans for directing any desired proportion of the air out of thepossageway and direct to the blower means without passage through therefrigerant compartment.

9. An air conditioning system for a railway car comprising an insulatedcontainer carried by the car beneath the floor thereof, a plurality ofducts connecting the container and car interior, a refrigerantcompartment in the container, water ice in the refrigerant compartmentheld spaced from a wall thereof to form a passageway, blower means fordrawing a stream of air from the car interior through one of the ductsand the passageway for discharge through other ducts into the carinterior, means for spraying chilled water into the air stream in saidpassageway, and control means for diverting any desired proportion ofthe air stream direct to the -blower means for circulation withoutpassage through the water sprays.

' FRANCIS A. ECQFF.

